H-P Shows Strength

Updated from 5:08 p.m. EST

SAN FRANCISCO -- Hewlett-Packard(HPQ) grew its bottom line roughly 28% in its fiscal fourth quarter, racing past Wall Street estimates on the back of strong worldwide demand for notebook PCs.

The Palo Alto, Calif., technology giant said sales in the quarter ended Oct. 31 totaled $28.3 billion, compared with $24.5 billion at this time a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for $27.4 billion in revenue.

The nearly $1 billion in revenue upside was the result of favorable foreign currency effects, H-P said.

But H-P had plenty of legitimate growth in its various businesses to celebrate during the quarter.

Sales in Brazil, Russia, India and China -- the so-called BRIC countries -- jumped 37% year-over-year, according to H-P. Worldwide notebook PC revenue grew 49% from this time last year.

"The world is moving to mobile," said CEO Mark Hurd in a post-earnings conference call with the media. He pointed out that the laptop is the main device used to access the growing amount of online content in many parts of the world.

At the same time, H-P is benefiting from falling prices of PC components like DRAM memory chips. Hurd said that favorable component prices contributed to part of the upside the company experienced in its profit margin during the past quarter.